Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – November 07, 2018

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November 7th is the anniversary of the death of actor Steve McQueen (born March 24, 1930, died November 7, 1980). The many well-publicized exploits in his tempestuous life and his enduring persona are well known. However, the end of his life is actually the most noteworthy part of his legacy, even though it seldom gets much publicity outside of Christian circles; he came to Jesus after he had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. He died with his forefinger pointing to his key verse in his Bible– Titus 1:2.

Guest Article: Fall Chores, by Patrice Lewis

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Editors’ Introductory Note:  This post first appeared in the excellent, long-running Rural Revolution blog. We recommend bookmarking it! We also recommend Patrice’s books.

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Until a few days ago, October was a very dry month for us. Thankfully some much-needed and very welcome rain is moving in.

While it’s delightful to walk outside and sniff the fresh moist ground, we weren’t idle during the dry weeks. Among other chores, we focused a lot on firewood, a chief preoccupation for many people this time of year.

Summer before last, we had a neighbor come in with some huge equipment and clear out a lot of dead trees from the wooded side of our property.

He piled the burnable debris in big burn piles and put the salvageable logs in another pile just below our corral.

We’ve been harvesting firewood off that pile ever since. In the last few weeks, Don’s worked hard to cut it all into rounds.

When enough rounds are cut, we load them into a small trailer hitched to the tractor bucket, and bring them up into the driveway to split.

 

We’ve been repeating this process for several weeks now.

 

We’re stacking some of the split wood in the barn:

We’re stacking some on the side porch:

And we’re stacking some on the front porch:

We have room to stack lots more in all three locations, especially since we moved the kindling box from the front porch to the side porch…

…giving us more room on the front porch.

We always keep the hatchet in the kindling box for splitting kindling as needed.

Continue reading“Guest Article: Fall Chores, by Patrice Lewis”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on investing in Graveyard Plots (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

 

Precious Metals:

Eric Reed at The Street: Investing in Silver: Four Ways to Invest and Why

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Gold, Silver Pressured By Firmer USDX, Rally In U.S. Stock Market

Economy & Finance:

Robert Shiller: ‘This is a very different midterm election,’ and markets may act differently

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Midterm elections and Trump: Tuesday’s vote is a referendum on the president’s economic vision

 

Stocks:

Stock Market Facing a 2019 Crash: 70% Correction Warning

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Here’s How Stocks Perform After Every Midterm Election Since World War II

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on DIY home projects. (See the Instructional Videos section.)

Books:

Wranglerstar’s book published last year deserves a second mention: Modern Homesteading: Rediscovering the American Dream.

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Home Workshop Setup: The Complete Guide (Home Woodworker Series)

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Practical Woodshop Projects: 24 No-Nonsense Projects to Improve Your Shop

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The Home Blacksmith: Tools, Techniques, and 40 Practical Projects for the Blacksmith Hobbyist

 

Movies & Television:

The 12th Man.  An amazing true story of a Norwegian resistance fighter. In Norwegian and German, with English subtitles.  Available on DVD and Blu-Ray, or for free streaming to folks who have Hulu.com.

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Yojimbo & Sanjuro (The Criterion Collection)

 

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – November 06, 2018

Today in 1977, the Toccoa Falls Dam in Georgia gave way and 39 people died in the resulting flood. The dam was an earthen dam constructed across a canyon in 1887 and had a 55 acre lake that was 180 feet deep. The dam had recently been inspected and approved, but in the early morning hours it gave way. Water flooded down the canyon at speeds approaching 120 mph. Below, residents of the Christian and Missionary Alliance College had no time to evacuate as the small community was wiped out.

Preparing to Survive Riots, Terrorist Attacks, or a Civil War

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Of all of the “worst case” possibilities that we prepare for, near the top of my “most dreaded” list is a second civil war.  This falls in the category of a “highly unlikely, but profoundly inimical if it were to occur.”  In this essay, I will discuss a full spectrum of threats, including contingency preparations for surviving riots, terrorist attacks, or a civil war.

I believe that the United States has entered a period of great instability, born of political divisiveness. The sharp differences between liberals and conservatives are now profoundly felt.  Virtually every topic and issue has become heavily politicized. This polarization seems to have grown worse with every month since Barrack Hussein Obama (BHO) took office. And the divide has grown even more pronounced under the administration of Donald John Trump (DJT). The mass media simply loathes Trump. They are doing their best to foment or even fabricate a crisis that could be used as an excuse to see DJT impeached.

The Bard of the American Redoubt, Alex Barron, noted that some leftists have dubbed the current era a Cold Civil War. In fact, they did so quite soon after President DJT took office. The question is, will their Cold Civil War ever turn Hot?

Those sentiments are shared by legendary investor Doug Casey. In a recent interview, referring to prospects of a second civil war, he said:  “I think, as I’ve thought for a long time, that we’re heading for a disaster of genuinely historic proportions.”

Continue reading“Preparing to Survive Riots, Terrorist Attacks, or a Civil War”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on American Redoubt coffee roasters. Many of these companies also do mailorder/Internet sales of their beans and ground coffee. I know that a lot of SurvivalBlog readers order their coffee from Black Rifle Coffee Company in Tennessee. But those of us who live here in the Redoubt can now support local businesses. And I have a suggestion that I’ll throw out there, gratis:  A good marketing angle for someone establishing a new coffee roasting company, or re-naming one, would be to name it “American Redoubt Coffee Company.” By doing so, they would be sure to garner a lot of extra mailorder sales!

 

Idaho (Coffee Roasters)

Evans Brothers, in Sandpoint roasts a variety of coffees. They even do mailorders with free shipping if you order two or more bags.

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Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters has three locations in Boise.

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DOMA Coffee Roasting Company is quite well-known. They are headquartered in Post Falls. They are a member of the Cooperative Coffees group, which is a prominent coffee bean buying collective.

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A Specialty Coffee Guide to Boise, the Gem State Capital

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NEMO Arms — originally headquartered in Montana, but now in Idaho — recently announced their new Monark 9mm pistol series.  This is a design that will appeal to the metal frame pistol crowd. If you love Browning Hi-Powers or SIG P220/226 series pistols, and want something more modern, then this might be the pistol for you. Most Monark models features high sights (to allow an unobstructed sight picture with a suppressor attached), and a milled slot forward of the rear sight, for attaching a red dot sight. They seem to be aiming for the “tactical” end of the market.  Notably,they will be offering 10, 15, 18, 20, and 32 round magazines. If you can afford a registered suppressor, then you can probably afford a Monark, as your main suppressor host handgun.

 

Montana (Coffee Roasters)

Some last minute election news for our readers in Montana: Tester Takes a Torpedo Below the Water Line. “The Libertarian candidate in Montana’s U.S. Senate race threw his support behind his Republican opponent Wednesday in a surprise move that came in response to an election mailer from an unknown group that appeared aimed at undermining Rosendale’s support among conservatives.”

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A gourmet coffee roaster, in Billings: Rock Creek Coffee

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In Whitefish: Montana Coffee Traders

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In Bozeman: Treeline Coffee.

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In Great Falls: Morning Light Coffee Roasters.

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And for sheer variety of blends, there is Colter Coffee Roasting, in Kalispell.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. The public Schools continue their morphing into communist indoctrination centers.

Voting

Today is the mid-term voting across the nation. Get out and vote! Reader DSV sent in this statement from The Truth About Guns blog that should send a shiver down your spine:

“The momentum is with us, the NRA is on its heels and we think that it’s an opportunity to keep redrawing the map.” – John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety in Suburban Democrats Like Jason Crow Campaign on Gun Control Policies

Crazy is as Crazy Does

SurvivalBlog reader H.L. sent in this excellent essay on the current political atmosphere. Donald Trump as President, a nation so divided against itself that civil discourse is all but impossible, a Democratic presidential candidate that first accused Trump of refusing to accept defeat, but two years later, still can’t accept her own. These are just some of the crazy things that have happened. The author links our current atmosphere to that of King James I and the gunpowder plot. The people are so fed up with the shenanigans coming out of Washington that they rose up two years ago and spoke loudly. Do they have the fortitude to see what they started through to the end?

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

Preparedness Notes for Monday – November 05, 2018

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On this day in 1979, student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini sent shock waves across America when they stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The radical Islamic fundamentalists took 90 hostages. The students were enraged that the deposed Shah had been allowed to enter the U.S. to seek medical attention. Just a few days later, the provincial leader of Iran resigned and the Ayatollah Khomeini took full control of the country. Two weeks later, all non-U.S personnel as well as female and minority Americans began to be released. The remaining 52 hostages were held for 14 months until the election of President Reagan.

Cold Steel Bush Ranger, by Pat Cascio

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In a most fitting tribute to Jim Bowie, Cold Steel recently came out with the Bush Ranger. This is a folder that sure does remind one of the Bowie fixed-blade knife, with its deep clip-point blade.

Cold Steel Always In Demand

Anyone who has been around the cutlery field for any length of time surely knows the name “Cold Steel” and their outstanding line of knives. To be sure, the Cold Steel line-up is always in demand, and quite often they will be out-of-stock on many of their knives. It is difficult for them to keep up with supply and demand. That’s a good thing as well as a bad thing. It’s good that their knives are so popular and bad if you can’t find the knife you want. However, you can sure do a web search, and with any luck you’ll find the exact knife you are looking for.

Many readers have asked me to review more “expensive” knives, instead of lower priced imported knives. Well, I’m here to tell you right up front that the Cold Steel Bush Ranger is also an imported folding knife, and it isn’t on the low end of the scale, when it comes to cost. I’ve repeated this hundreds of times, especially for all you haters of anything imported. You get as good as you want from overseas, and overseas doesn’t always mean China or Taiwan either. To be sure, Cold Steel does not have any of their knives made in a slave labor camp, far from it. They are made in modern factories, with all the modern machinery you’d expect to only find in the USA.

Continue reading“Cold Steel Bush Ranger, by Pat Cascio”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on Palladium (See the Precious Metals section.)

 

Precious Metals (Palladium):

The spot price of palladium is still looking strong. But if you see the global economy start to turn downward, it would probably be a good time to cash in and take your profit on palladium.

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But all is not well for all of the platinum metals group. Platinum itself–which has a price more closely tied to general industrial production and passenger automobile sales– is just now crawling up out of the dumpster. But it is bound to bounce back, so I consider it presently bargain priced.

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And then there is Ruthenium, which I recommended to my consulting clients, back in 2016 and 2107. The spot price of Ruthenium has more than doubled in the past year. I really doubt that it is headed to another 2007-style price spike, but time will tell. Ruthenium has always been very volatile and difficult to predict.

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Lastly, I should mention Rhodium, which I recommended publicly in late February of 2016. It was then spot priced at just $670 per Troy ounce, and at around $850 in coin form. The Spot Rhodium price is now around $2,200, and the scarce Baird Rhodium coins now sell for as much as a $340 per ounce premium over spot!  Just as with palladium, if you see the global economy start to turn downward, it would probably be a good time to take your profit on Rhodium.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If Man retained faith in God, he might also retain faith in Man. He remembered words which for four months he had not heard, read, or uttered, the most beautiful words in the language – faith and hope.” – Pat Frank, in his novel Alas, Babylon